CHAPTER 45 #2
But she was too late. She knew what was going to happen before it did. Her magic flared – beginning to gather – but before it could form, Silas drove his blade down, directly through Sebastian’s chest.
NO! Sebastian!
Their bond shuddered violently.
Agony tore through her.
Sebastian staggered. His eyes found hers as he fell, and she felt a rush of love one last time – fierce and final.
Then their bond snapped.
It left only silence in its wake, the absence worse than any wound – like glass shattering inside her chest, jagged edges tearing at her. It left her bleeding. Hollow. The sound that ripped from her was visceral, animal. Inhuman in its awfulness.
And Silas? Silas laughed.
Golden light erupted from Kara in the next heartbeat, not called, not controlled – a detonation of grief and fury that tore the air apart along with her screams.
Arcanth power. Combined with the agony that could only come from a soul breaking in two. It was ice and fire and pain that felt as if it would swallow her whole.
She didn’t care.
It rushed outward in a blinding wave. Silas’s expression shifted to one of shock.
It was all he could do before the golden light consumed him.
It swallowed his laughter, shattered his shadows, tore him and his cursed Dracanth apart, until there was nothing left.
Not just dead – obliterated. But the light didn’t stop.
It tore through the Draken ranks, hundreds falling in an instant.
Those that remained scattered, and began fleeing back towards their black ships, their will broken.
The battlefield itself shook beneath the force of it.
The magic took everything from her. Every ounce of strength, every last drop of power.
Her vision blurred and her legs gave out.
Kara fell, hard, her knees hitting the blood-soaked earth as she clawed her way to Sebastian.
He lay on his back, exactly where he’d fallen, eyes closed, blood spilling across his armour.
She pressed her hands desperately against his chest. Stared in horror at the wound that had stolen him from her.
His hand still gripped the hilt of his sword.
Death itself hadn’t been enough to make him let go.
No. No, he’s not dead. He can’t be dead.
She shoved emerald into him – her soul forcing her magic to obey – pouring everything, anything she had left, begging, denying. But it recoiled from the wound, the magic itself refusing to touch it. It knew.
Death was absolute.
“Come back to me. Please, come back–”
She tried again, harder, until her whole body shook with the force of it. But she felt nothing. He had no heartbeat. Nothing to heal. Her bondmate, the love of her life, her Sebastian... was gone.
“We said we’d fight him together,” she choked. “I’m so sorry.”
Her sobbing turned violent and unrelenting. It wasn’t a sound meant for battlefields or human ears – it was a haunting cry, too intimate, too broken.
Yet it carried.
It rippled out across the field until the Vallennan line stilled, blades slack at their sides.
Hardened Thorne soldiers, men who’d stared death in the face, wiped tears from their cheeks, unable to bear the sound.
Durent men dropped their axes. Lyrans, their hands trembling violet, cast wave after wave of calming magic over her, but the grief pouring from Kara was too vast, too wild to be soothed.
It drowned their efforts, echoing louder than any spell.
Even the captured Draken, those few still breathing, recoiled from it, clamping their hands over their ears, hissing in discomfort.
The battlefield, for the first time since the enemy landed, was still.
Sebastian Thorne, son of Tobias, Commander of the Thorne army, lay fallen in his beloved’s arms. And the people of Vallenna, every House and banner, bore witness.
No one dared to disturb the moment.
It was Tobias that moved first, slow and unsure, until he stood over his son’s body and Kara weeping across it. His crimson faltered across his knuckles as he knelt down and placed one weathered hand on Sebastian’s forehead. A soldier’s goodbye. He turned to her, and laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Kara,” he said gently. “He’s gone.”
No. Don’t say that.
She shook her head fiercely. Crushed her hands harder against Sebastian’s chest as if sheer will would restart his heart. “No. No, he’s not. He can’t–”
Tobias’s grip on her shoulder tightened. “Come on, Kara. Let’s get you out of here.”
Her scream was desperate. Mindless. It split the air as she clung to Sebastian’s lifeless body. “I WON’T LEAVE HIM!”
“He will come with us,” Tobias promised gruffly. “I swear it. He won’t be left behind.”
A surge of violet cut through the haze. Sienna dropped to her knees on Kara’s other side, and wrapped her arms around her. Her magic pulsed, trying to dull the sharpest edges of Kara’s grief. But she hardly felt it. The pain was too much.
I won’t survive this. I don’t want to.
“Don’t–” Kara sobbed, thrashing against her hold. “Don’t take me from him–”
But Sienna’s violet flared stronger. “I’m not. I’ve got you. You’re not alone. I’ve got you.”
“Come home to Thorne, Kara,” Tobias commanded softly but firmly, the words landing like both an order and a vow.
Thorne.
Home.
The words ripped her open. Sienna held her tighter, and this time Kara collapsed into her arms, her anguished cries shaking them both.
He can’t have left me.
“He can’t be gone, he can’t be dead,” she wept uncontrollably. She couldn’t breathe.
No matter what she was saying, she could feel it. He was gone. Her soul was torn in two. The agony of it was inexplicable.
She reached out for him again. His hand was still warm. “Sebastian, please–” The words weren’t coherent anymore. “Take me with you. I can’t – I don’t want to stay here–”
Sienna placed a hand to Kara’s head, violet clawing at her temples. “Let me help, let me take some of it–”
As Kara lost herself, Tobias lifted her to her feet. Sebastian’s fingers slipped through hers. Tobias raised his head, his voice steel as he barked orders to his men. One order broke through the haze.
“Gather him. Treat him with honour. He is my son, a hero of Vallenna. And he will not be left on this field.”
There were low murmurs of assent as four soldiers ran forward to gather his body.
“Be careful with him – please–” she cried, reaching back towards him.
“We will, milady,” one answered steadfastly. They carried him past and Tobias placed his hand on his son’s arm, trembling slightly before he pulled it away. A single crack in the armour. Then it was gone.
Sebastian–
Tobias put his arm around her and all but carried her across the field. Sienna followed, never once letting go of her hand.
“Bring a valmare. A squad with me. His body will ride in the carriage, guarded on all sides. We return to Thorne. Now,” Tobias barked.
“Please, my lord, may I come with you?” Sienna asked. “She shouldn’t be alone.”
Tobias’s expression softened. “You were on their Arcalon team weren’t you?”
Sienna nodded.
“You are welcome in my house for as long as Lady Hale wishes,” Tobias said kindly.
“Thank you,” Sienna said and she held Kara as she sobbed against her shoulder.
“Bring another valmare,” Tobias barked over his shoulder.
Kara barely registered the bustle until Tobias lifted her onto the waiting saddle and climbed up behind her.
“Wait!” A voice cried from one of the Healer tents, and a figure pushed their way towards them.
Alys.
“I’m coming too,” Alys said breathlessly, reaching for Kara.
“Very well, Lady Hale,” Tobias said, surprised.
“No.” Alaric shoved forward, his hand catching his niece’s arm. “You can’t. Not now.”
“I will!” Alys snapped, wrenching against his grip. Tears streaked down her dirt-smeared cheeks. “She needs me!”
Kara turned her head weakly, blinking through tears, seeing them through the blur. She vaguely recognised that Alys standing for her should help, but the pain flared, if possible, even sharper.
Kara looked to her father. “Please, let her come,” she begged hoarsely.
Recognition, and maybe even understanding, flashed across Alaric’s face. He opened his mouth but never got a chance to speak.
Tobias’s voice cut across him. “Enough. The Lady has spoken.” He looked directly at Alys. “You ride with us. Stay at her side.”
Alys nodded fiercely, sliding her hand into Kara’s. Alaric stepped back, his arm falling to his side.
Tobias gave a single nod, turning to his men. “Form ranks. Let us ride.”
Kara watched mutely as Sienna, Alys, and the Thorne soldiers mounted their valmares. And then they rode. Carrying the body of Sebastian Thorne with them. But Kara carried only silence where his soul had once been.